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The Governor of Maine Says John Lewis Should Thank Republicans for Ending Slavery

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Updated: 11:15 AM CST Jan 17, 2017

The Governor of Maine Says John Lewis Should Thank Republicans for Ending Slavery

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Updated: 11:15 AM CST Jan 17, 2017

The Governor of Maine Says John Lewis Should Thank Republicans for Ending Slavery

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Updated: 11:15 AM CST Jan 17, 2017

Gov. Paul LePage, R-Maine, said Rep. John Lewis should thank America’s past presidents who fought against slavery and segregation.

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The governor made the remark Tuesday on his weekly radio appearance on WVOM.

“How about John Lewis last week, criticizing the president?” LePage said. “John Lewis ought to look at history. It was Abraham Lincoln that freed the slaves. It was Rutherford B. Hayes and Ulysses S. Grant that fought against Jim Crow laws, a simple thank you would suffice.”

Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and pushed for the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery. But historians said LePage is wrong about Jim Crow laws.

Jim Crow laws didn't exist during the Grant administration and an electoral deal that put Hayes in office led to the end of Reconstruction and the removal of federal troops, setting the stage for the creation of Jim Crow laws that followed, said Colby professor Dan Shea.

"Paul LePage is going to give John Lewis a tutorial on the history of black oppression in the United States? That's rich," Shea said.

Rachel Talbot Ross, the state director of the NAACP in Maine and president of the Portland chapter, criticized LePage for his comments.

"The ripple effects of this insult reverberate far beyond Maine's African American community. It's a painful reminder to every person in Maine and those nationwide that the fight for equal rights and dignity continues," Ross said in a statement.

Lewis, a Democratic congressman from Georgia, described President-elect Donald Trump last week as an illegitimate president.

Trump then responded on Twitter, saying Lewis "should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results."

Congressman John Lewis should finally focus on the burning and crime infested inner-cities of the U.S. I can use all the help I can get!